Riot’s Reviews: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Alright MCU fans, Phase 5 is officially here! As many of us have witnessed, Marvel has been stumbling a bit with their extended universe. Personally, I get the sense that the MCU creators are feeling a lot like Bilbo these days, unable to focus in cohesively and tell stories that wow the audience as much as the original phases did. Perhaps we were simply spoiled by the almost seamless way the original IPs were brought together for Infinity War and Endgame, with the expectation bar being set too high for the next wave of new faces. But, when these movies and T.V. shows (from Phase 4 particularly) are being placed against the backdrop of the rest of Hollywood and entertainment, I think there is a much larger pattern forming. Simply, the gap between good and bad films (or T.V. shows) appears to be growing wider. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was tasked with a tall order: re-focus the goal and deliver a storyline that is compelling and interesting again. Unfortunately, I’m not convinced it totally delivered on either.
Quantumania catches up with Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and his extended family a couple years after the defeat of Thanos. Scott is indulging quite a bit in his newfound stardom, being easily recognized/admired on the street and even cashing in on a book deal. But after having to bail his daughter out of jail and after being admonished by his family for his recent bouts of self-focused behaviors (to me, this scene actually came off as unbelievably ungrateful and unnecessarily critical, projecting expectations that were neither reasonable nor realistic on Scott), the group heads down to Hank Pym’s (Michael Douglas) basement so that Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton) can show off a little science project. It turns out that Cassie’s attempt to map the Quantum Realm, that once entrapped Scott and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), ends up sucking the entire family right back in and sets Ant-Man and The Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) on a crash course with the Quantum Realm’s despot, Kang The Conqueror (Jonathan Majors).
Writing out the intro synopsis of the story reminds me of the potential this movie had conceptually and I’ll begin by saying I honestly didn’t hate this film. Predominately, the main issue with Quantumania is the plot holes, all of which I can’t dive into for spoiler reasons. What I will say about this is that most of these issues are arising because the “rules” of the multiverse and particularly the Quantum Realm aren’t being defined very well (or even at all to be honest). They certainly aren’t being consistent from movie to movie or from character to character. The nature of the Quantum Realm essentially makes this worse, as it supposedly allows for these inconsistencies. If a linear timeline can’t be established, how then can the audience be directed to (or taken on the journey) towards the final conflict? Kang, as the new big baddie, is a master of time and inter-dimensional travel. But what he can do with time and what access our heroes have to time are so poorly established, it’s hard to be even intellectually involved as a viewer. Sprinkle in a couple of deus ex machinas and I’m too far removed from the story. On the emotional side of it, Ant-Man’s third iteration had me the least invested so far. It appears that each of the MCU heroes is falling victim to the sequel cycle and I fully admit it must be horribly difficult to keep these IPs running with new/interesting/original story ideas. But the MCU’s biggest hurdle is tied into their inability to move on from the original phases. Because much like her predecessors (Xochitl Gomez, Iman Vellani, Dominque Thorne, Hailee Steinfeld) Kathryn Newton doesn’t appear remotely ready to carry the mantle of the Ant-Man forward. It’s not just the younger faces either. Shang-Chi, Moon Knight, She-Hulk (barf), and The Eternals did nothing for the growth of the MCU in my opinion either. The absolute worst thing, in almost every conceivable way, of Quantumania can be summed up in one acronym: M.O.D.O.K. I don’t know what they were thinking with this one. Finally, as a last, nitpicky thought, shamelessly plugging socialism in the dialogue was the stupidest move I could think of.
So that was quite a bit of bad, how about the good? I saw a lot of talk online about how bad the quality of the CGI was and for the most part, I wholeheartedly disagree with the comments. I found the expanded look into the Quantum Realm to be fascinating, even if it is confusing at times (particularly, the “probability paradox” was visually stunning but so nonsensical it hurt my brain, which I guess is the point?). The designs for the various “alien” life was one of the most unique and fascinating endeavors I’ve seen since Star Wars. Costume design was particularly on point for this film and Kang’s look was exactly what every comic nerd could want. All in all, I legitimately thought the movie was a pretty fun ride. The acting was at a level you should expect from its top names and although I have massive issues with what the creators are attempting to convey with his character, I think Jonathan Majors is a particularly interesting and compelling actor. He is certainly a man of many faces, which is perfect for Kang. In my opinion, quality performances are being handcuffed by inferior writing, which made even the signature humor of the Ant-Man series feel off/forced at times. Diving into a darker overtone theme was more interesting than I was expecting from this group and it had me wishing that the writers had simply chosen a lane. Either go full dark, or take us back to the traditional Ant-Man laughs.
Riot’s Rating: 6.8/10: If you want to save this one for streaming, I wouldn’t blame you. But the visuals on the big screen are certainly worth the trip.
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